What I have on has absolutely nothing to do with strawberry jam but it’s on my mind because I bought a bunch of fresh strawberries at the farmer’s market that I will be making into jam. The summer day is perfect for this—last time I did this with no air conditioning in a 6’ X 8’ kitchen when it was 90 degrees out. Today it’s 79 and sunny with a breeze. I may put them on the windowsill to cool.

Before I turn this into a food blog, I better address the fashion at hand, which includes this new dress from AvaGardner Kungler. With subtle variations in color in the texture, Ava brings out a kind of lightness to the fabric as it’s laid upon the mesh. A lovely silhouette with versatility for accessorizing, it’s a great piece.

I accessorized with Art Deco jewelry from Tiffy Vella, who seems to do vintage pieces like this with a special zeal. She loves antique or retro and she has definitely put her knowledge of the look into these pieces, which are being offered at this month’s Genre. My shoes are a more contemporary look from BabyChampagne Sass, who is cranking out eclectic and fashionable footwear for various events and her own store.

I am showing the new skin from Mimi Coral, formerly one of the designers for Cupcakes, and now out on her own under Flounce. The skins show the same quality that Mimi and her former business partner Rosemary Galbraith used to have with Cupcakes, now with Mimi’s own singular spin. I love the makeup on this one and the great definition on the body. (And as I understand, the separation of the two designers was more about schedule conflicts than anything else, and knowing how hard this work is in SL, it’s amazing they kept things going as long as they did!) It was a smart business choice, and I think both ladies will do great work!

My updo is one of Mirja Mills’ newest. It comes with a daisy garland that I chose to make invisible. One of the charming parts of Mirja’s newest “transformation” hairs is a clever animation that occurs when you click to change, where your hands come up to do things in your hair and then poof, it’s done. I remember when Mirja was more kilts than hair and I am amazed by how she has expanded her business over the years. And now she’s doing incredible mesh jewelry as well!

The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
Neighbored by fruit of baser quality.

“How do you know, when you think blue — when you say blue — that you are talking about the same blue as anyone else?

You cannot get a grip on blue.

Blue is the sky, the sea, a god’s eye, a devil’s tail, a birth, a strangulation, a virgin’s cloak, a monkey’s ass. It’s a butterfly, a bird, a spicy joke, the saddest song, the brightest day.”

― Christopher Moore, Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d’Art

The whole entry is blue. That’s it. That’s the theme: blue. Really, how hard is it to a blog entry with more than one color, but I seem to be beyond that. Beyond the blue. I start with a dress from Ivy Burner, one that proves Ivy’s amazing skill with system textures combined with mesh. And Ivy does appliers for several types of mesh breasts, mine being Riann Maltese’s, sized to a usable volume. (You can’t almost tell I have them on, hm?)

The feature of this look is the jewelry from Abraxxa Anatine, a new set she has released after a small break. With a lovely butterfly center and gorgeous wrapped beads, the necklace comes with a color changer so you can mess around with color combinations to your heart’s content. I, of course, chose blue.

That’s because the applier from PeachieMuah is so well done. It blends perfectly with her newest skin, a fresh young face with drawn-in lashes and a heavy liner. My eyes from Lano Ling were a set he made for the Men’s Dept but they suit me well, don’t you think? (Seriously, folks, eyes are unisex.) An updo from Truth Hawks makes this a more elegant look and is about the only non-blue thing going here.

“Blue is sly, slick, it slides into the room sideways, a slippery trickster.

This is a story about the color blue, and like blue, there’s nothing true about it. Blue is beauty, not truth. ‘True blue’ is a ruse, a rhyme; it’s there, then it’s not. Blue is a deeply sneaky color.”

Like this:

“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.” ~ Coco Chanel

The grand entrance always requires a beautiful gown, and this one, from Mami Jewell, qualifies. Mami is offering this gown as a Marketplace limited gown. Now that Marketplace has converted, you can purchase content using many different types of payment method besides just PayPal or Linden, so you don’t have to wait until you have Linden in hand to get it. With a beautiful deep peach color, the gown is graceful and flowing, as all of Mami’s gowns are, with beautifully rendered system pieces and flexi prims. (Yes, they still work, especially for looks like this one.)

Kavar Cleanslate is offering this curly updo at this month’s Attic, so you can grab some great Exile on the cheap and also experience the wonderful HUD system he now offers for his hair. It’s inventory management made easy—instead of having the potential 45 hair variations any one color set offers, you have one hud and the hair itself. I clicked the colors on this hair endlessly, experimenting with looks. My luscious skin is one of Tricky’s mainstay skins with a blonde brow added. And emerald jewelry from Abraxxa Anatine enhances the look.

“While clothes may not make the woman, they certainly have a strong effect on her self-confidence — which, I believe, does make the woman.” ~ Mary Kay Ashe

Hair: Exile::Live Every Moment Light Blondes by Kavar Cleanslate for ::Exile::, available at The Attic *

“There are really only two plays: Romeo and Juliet, and put the darn ball in the basket.” ~ Abe Lemons

I was the star of my grade school basketball team, which is kind of a joke because I went to a Catholic school (Catholic grade schools don’t crank out great athletes generally). We had no gym, very poor physical education, and our coaches were volunteer parents. But I enjoyed playing and the basketball hoop my dad installed for me still stands at the house where I grew up many years later.

Entering public high school, I was immediately dropped from the team. I didn’t mind because I found practices boring. Whatever it is in great athletes to find victory, part of it is the ability to find pleasure or meaning in endlessly boring and repetitious exercises. I was sick of lay-ups.

Rogan Diesel came out with this great little pose prop for the upcoming Liaison Pose Pavilion—the basketball puts you in all sorts of athletic poses—so I wanted to try to replicate my athletic self grown up and sexier. I started with a racerback set from Anessa Stine with matching tube socks and worn the cute little high-tops from Reira Islay that are at Collabor88 right now.

Aida Ewing’s bare faced Cleo is perfect for an athletic girl. With a luscious toned body and a pretty but not overdone face, this star is set for the court. And a high ponytail from Truth Hawks makes all the sense in the world for hard play.

Between ‘Marx” and “marzipan” in the dictionary there was “Mary”
Between the deep blue sea and the devil that was me
If ever anyone could help me with my obsession with
The young Susannah York
It was Mary

Every time I hear this song I think, “Billy, you schmo. You should have kept her.” My Mary is a beauty, a free spirited girl with bohemian tastes. Start with this lovely dress from Arianda Garrigus. With mesh and the right kind of textures, she creates a relaxed linen dress with hand-embroidery that Mary could pull on, belt and accessorize for a breezy summer day. With wedges from Tya Fallingbridge and jewelry from Maxi Gossamer, the look is cool and pretty.

The young Susannah York was indeed a knock out but this blonde is nothing to sneeze at, Billy. With beautiful new long blonde hair from Truth Hawks and this glowing skin from Aida Ewing, Mary could give Susannah a run for her money. Aw Billy, why’d you pass her up?

What happened in the past
Remained a mystery of natural history
She should have been the last
But she was just the latest

You’re never happy with what you’ve got
Till what you’ve got is gone
Sorry, Mary

I have to brag on this video a little because my partner made it and I think it’s pretty cute. To me, the best part is hearing her sing the theme song–she wrote the song and performed it! (Betcha didn’t know Callie was a singer.)

I don’t think it’s a big secret that Callie is a California girl. For the SL 10th Birthday, she styled a whole sim with her partners at KittyCatS to celebrate the birthday and encourage folks to have some fun. There are races and a ferris wheel and a great boardwalk (made by Barnesworth Anubis, which he is now selling in the Liaison Collaborative Garden). They have filled the sim with photo opportunities and silliness. And of course, KittyCatS. (You can get a FREE SL10B KittyCatS cat at the sim too or at the SL10B Community Celebration or even on the Marketplace—search SL10B.)

I relaxed on the beach, not worrying about that old kittybox thing with the sand. (KittyCatS wouldn’t do that!) I lounged on the blankets and showed off my new swimsuit from Monica Outlander to all the other kitties there. Monica has put out three new suits, all different styles with different prim decorations and some glitzy features on the textures plus Tango appliers (which worked fine on my Lush boobs).

Speaking of my Lush boobs, Riann Maltese has issued a new version that now includes jiggle and allows you to apply Tango skin textures. She warns that they may not look as right as if they were Lush textures, but at least you can get some skin match. I am glad she decided to do that. Hers are less expensive, less overt and demo’able, which makes them a better choice in my opinion.

I wore this Belleza Best Buy skin that Tricky DID have out for sale during one of his recent sales. I couldn’t help but wear it—it looked so awesome with this hair from Mirja Mills. The messy, wind blown waves were perfect for beach time. I loved how the two paired up, especially with Ikon Innovia’s eyes.

If you’re bored and you don’t got nuttin to do
The warm sandy beach is the place for you!

The best part of the SL birthdays is the discovery—you get to meet new people, discover new music, see new things. Every year I open my horizons with the celebrations. Last night I took photos on the Live Stage while listening to Pete Mroz, who was absolutely incredible. Jahman Ochs, the Stage Lead, had encouraged me to visit and I was so glad I did. It was a great performance—one of those transcendent SL moments when you realize all that SL can be. I highly encourage anyone to listen to him play in world if you can catch him.

I was dressed up in this traveler’s outfit—tank top and shorts from Erratic Rain. The two pieces are not necessarily needed together—buy them separately and wear with other items. She has cleverly made the tank so the mesh part floats above any other piece you might choose—a mesh skirt or shorts. A system piece tucks in. This pair of shorts from the set have stamps on them from traveling, which inspired the idea of the wanderer. I clicked twice on Metro Moonwall’s gacha at the Arcade and got the rare! Love the shape and textures.

My skin is PeachieMuah’s newest for Fresh Face. Again, I love the youthful and unique qualities of the face and the option to have smaller breasts. I wish the rest of the body were a bit more developed—back, ankles, arms—but I think the face is the primary goal for most skin makers when they are starting out. My hair is the latest boy hair from Chiaki Xue, which looks fine on a woman too, in my opinion.

I wanted to give you a link to a great new FAQ from Cory Edo about viewing mesh. I am guessing she has had so many questions and I hear so many where people think the mesh item has failed when it’s actually their viewer, especially in these transitional times when LL is messing with server code. When you purchase a mesh item, one alone won’t be defective—it’s a copy of the same thing everyone else purchased. Don’t purchase a new one hoping it will be better or instantly complain to the creator that you got a defective mesh piece. That makes no sense. Check out Cory’s FAQ here.

“I wandered everywhere, through cities and countries wide. And everywhere I went, the world was on my side.” ~ Roman Payne